U.S. Citizen Among Those Killed in Flotilla Raid: First Reactions

U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old high-school student who was
living in Turkey, was reportedly among the nine killed during the
Israeli raid on the flotilla headed for Gaza. Turkish media report that
Dogan has one bullet in his chest and four in his head, all fired at
close range. His death is sure to exacerbate
international pressure on Israel and add more fuel to the ongoing debate over Israel's
blockade of Gaza. Here are reactions to Dogan's killing and attempts to
understand why it happened and what it means.

Complicating
International Response The New York Times' Sabrina Tavernise writes,
"The development added a new diplomatic complexity as Israel struggled
to defuse rising international anger over its raid on six ships seeking
to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip. ... As processions of coffins
bearing the dead wound through a devout neighborhood of Istanbul on
Thursday, accompanied by thousands of Turkish mourners, public anger
here seemed undiminished. ... The United Nations has called for a full
international inquiry into the raid, but on Thursday, Israeli officials
rejected that demand in favor of a narrower, internal investigation."

Blame
Israeli Leadership, Not TroopsJames
Joyner suggests that it was the decision to send the troops in at
all, and not the specific actions of those troops, that led to the
violence. "Lack of strategic thinking is precisely the issue.
Die was cast with decision to board." Joshua Foust
asks, "is most of the anger is at the leadership for
forcing the situation? It couldnt have ended well."

Close
Quarters Combat Is Ugly The Center for New American Security's Andrew Exumwrites, "in all fairness, I
myself have shot someone that many times in close quarters. So I
shouldn't rush to judge.Many of us have been
in close quarters combat, which is scary and very fast. We shouldn't
judge too quickly."He adds in response to a tweet about the chaotic
melee on the boat, "One can only imagine.
Again, can you imagine being the poor # 2 man on the rope?!"

What
Will Happen to Dogan's Remains ABC News' Zoe Magee reports, "Dogan was a
high school student studying social sciences in the town of Kayseri in
central Turkey. He was born in the United States and moved to Turkey at
the age of 2. He will be buried in his hometown tomorrow. Dogan's body
was returned to Turkey today along with eight others, all Turkish
nationals, who were on board the Mavi Maramara."

Eyewitness
Report of Violence on Ships Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal recounts
from his experience on the ship that "live ammunition had been used by
Israeli commandos as they stormed the ship. He said that he witnessed
some of the killings, and confirmed that at least 'one person was shot
through the top of the head from [the helicopter] above.'"

Elshayyal was on the top deck when the ship was
attacked and said that within a few minutes of seeing the Israeli
helicopters, there were shots being fired from above.

"The first shots [coming from Israeli boats at
sea] were tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated steel bullets,"
said Eshayyal.

"Live
shots came five minutes after that. There was definitely live fire from
the air and from the sea as well."

He confirmed that some passengers took apart
some of the ship's railings to defend themselves as they saw the Israeli
soldiers approaching.

"After the shooting and the first deaths, people
put up white flags and signs in English and Hebrew," he said.

"An Israeli [on the ship] asked the soldiers to
take away the injured, but they did not and the injured died on the
ship."